Written Answers Friday 23 November 2007

Alcohol Misuse

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many offences of drunkenness were recorded per head of population in each year since 1997.

Kenny MacAskill: The information requested is shown in the following tables.

  Offences of Drunkenness Recorded by the Police, Scotland, 1996-97 to 2006-07

  Rate per 100,000 Population

  

 
 Scotland


 1997-98
 190


 1998-99
 165


 1999-2000
 150


 2000-01
 154


 2001-02
 153


 2002-03
 144


 2003-04
 149


 2004-05
 142


 2005-06
 137


 2006-07
 130

Alcohol Misuse

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many offences of drink driving were recorded in (a) Dundee and (b) Angus in each year since 1997, also showing the rates per head of population.

Kenny MacAskill: The information requested is shown in the following tables.

  Offences of Drink Driving Recorded by the Police in Angus and the City of Dundee, 1996-97 to 2006-07

  Number of Incidents

  

 
 Angus
 Dundee City


 1997-98
 227
 392


 1998-99
 200
 337


 1999-2000
 202
 397


 2000-01
 168
 369


 2001-02
 279
 448


 2002-03
 226
 445


 2003-04
 265
 465


 2004-05
 263
 383


 2005-06
 318
 368


 2006-07
 291
 368



  Rate Per 100,000 Population

  

 
 Angus
 Dundee City


 1997-98
 206
 259


 1998-99
 182
 225


 1999-2000
 184
 268


 2000-01
 154
 252


 2001-02
 257
 308


 2002-03
 209
 309


 2003-04
 247
 325


 2004-05
 243
 269


 2005-06
 292
 258


 2006-07
 266
 259

Genetically Modified Crops

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the European Union allowing the importation of GM varieties of US maize into Europe.

Shona Robison: The Scottish Government maintains its long-standing opposition to the cultivation of genetically modified crops and urges that any proposals for importing genetically modified materials for their use in food and feed be considered only after the most rigorous analysis and ensuring a precautionary approach.

Police

Hugh Henry (Paisley South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many police officers were released from other tasks as a result of civilianisation initiatives between May 2003 and May 2007, excluding those released as a result of the Reliance contract, broken down by police board area, and what these initiatives were.

Kenny MacAskill: Civilianisation initiatives and the deployment of police officers are the responsibility of the relevant chief constable and the information requested is not held centrally. We are committed to working with key stakeholders to ensure that future savings from efficiencies, including civilianisation initiatives, are reinvested to redeploy officers to strengthen operational policing and deliver additional police in Scotland’s communities. We shall actively evaluate how successful forces are in that respect.

Police

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether police numbers on 13 November 2008 will be 150 higher than on 13 November 2007 and whether they will be 500 higher on 13 November 2011.

Kenny MacAskill: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-5268 on 29 October 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Transport

Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether all emails and feedback forms received by Transport Scotland or only Transport Scotland’s summary of responses and its report in respect of the consultation on the Forth replacement crossing will be made publicly available.

Stewart Stevenson: The public information exhibitions were held in order to present the facts from the Forth Replacement Crossing Study to the public, local communities and other interested parties.

  Transport Scotland have carried out a thorough analysis of all the feedback received from the public and stakeholders following the public information exhibitions, and will publish an analysis report of the responses on the Forth Replacement Crossing website by the end of this year.